Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Augustus & the Glories of Empire
Octavian was left as sole ruler of the Roman world and by 27 BC had been acclaimed
Augustus (Your Eminence) and conceded virtually unlimited power by the Senate. In ef-
fect, he had become emperor.
Under him, the arts flourished. Augustus was lucky in having as his contemporaries the
poets Virgil, Horace and Ovid, as well as the historian Livy. He encouraged the visual arts,
restored existing buildings and constructed many new ones. During his reign the Pantheon
was raised and he boasted that he had 'found Rome in brick and left it in marble'. The long
period of comparatively enlightened rule that he initiated brought unprecedented prosperity
and security to the Mediterranean.
By AD 100, the city of Rome is said to have had more than 1.5 million inhabitants and
all the trappings of the imperial capital - its wealth and prosperity were obvious in the rich
mosaics, marble temples, public baths, theatres, circuses and libraries. People of all races
and conditions converged on the capital. Poverty was rife among an often disgruntled lower
class. Augustus had created Rome's first police force under a city prefect
(praefectus urbi)
to curb mob violence, which had long gone largely unchecked. He had also instituted a
7000-man fire brigade and night watchman service.
Augustus carried out other far-reaching reforms. He streamlined the army, which was
kept at a standing total of around 300,000 men. Military service ranged from 16 to 25
years, but Augustus kept conscription to a minimum, making it a largely volunteer force.
He consolidated Rome's three-tier class society. The richest and most influential class re-
mained the Senators. Below them, the so-called Equestrians filled posts in public adminis-
tration and supplied officers to the army (control of which was essential to keeping Augus-
tus' position unchallenged). The bulk of the populace filled the ranks of the lower class.
The system was by no means rigid and upward mobility was possible.
A century after Augustus' death in AD 14 (at age 75), the Empire had reached its
greatest extent. Under Hadrian (76-138), the Empire stretched from the Iberian peninsula,
Gaul and Britain to a line that basically followed the Rhine and Danube rivers. All of the
present-day Balkans and Greece, along with the areas known in those times as Dacia,
Moesia and Thrace (considerable territories reaching to the Black Sea), were under Roman
control. Most of modern-day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel were occupied
by Rome's legions and linked up with Egypt. From there a deep strip of Roman territory
stretched along the length of North Africa to the Atlantic coast of what is today northern
Morocco. The Mediterranean was a Roman lake.
